The present invention relates to a lamp-socket contact. More particularly this invention concerns the conductive element that is fitted in a seat of a lamp holder or socket and that makes the electrical connection between the contact pins of a lamp fitted to the holder and a supply or connecting wire.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,433 of Oesterheld, a standard lamp-socket contact is formed of a flat blank of sheet bronze or copper-coated steel that is bent into a complex shape having two opposite longitudinally extending and parallel but transversely spaced sides joined by a bight. Each side is formed at a front end with a forwardly extending pin-gripping finger between which the respective contact pin of a normally fluorescent bulb is inserted. At its rear end one side has another inwardly projecting but oppositely angled finger that presses a stripped wire end against the other side of the contact. The rear end is formed with a bent-in tab having a hole through which the wire is inserted. The fingers that grip the lamp pin are offset longitudinally from the finger that grips the feed wire. This item is mass produced and is provided with other formations that ensure that once it is pushed down into a seat in an elastomeric housing it will remain in place.
Such a contact is of relatively complex construction, in particular with respect to the complex bending job needed to make it from a flat blank, so that it is not cheap to manufacture. Furthermore it is relatively long as the wire inserted in the rear of the contact must be kept out of the way of the pin inserted into its front.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved lamp-socket contact.
Another object is the provision of such an improved lamp-socket contact which overcomes the above-given disadvantages, that is which is of simple and inexpensive construction, and that is longitudinally particularly short.
A lamp holder has according to the invention a socket housing forming a seat centered on an axis, and a contact fitted to the seat and formed unitarily with a pair of opposite generally axially extending sides flanking the axis. A front finger extending generally axially from one of the sides has a pair of opposite edges and therebetween a face directed radially toward the axis and pressing the lamp contact pin transversely of the axis against the other side. A back finger extending from the to other side offset laterally from the front finger has an outer edge juxtaposed with the one side. The conductive core is pinched between the outer edge and the one side laterally adjacent the front finger and bears laterally against one of the edges of the front finger.
Thus with this arrangement the conductive core is out of axial line with the pin so that the core and pin can axially overlap each other, that is the front end of the conductive core is axially forward of the rear end of the lamp pin. As a result the lamp holder can be made very short. This shortness further increases the proximity of the conductive wire core and the lamp pin, ensuring low-loss flow of current between them. Furthermore the contact itself is of fairly simple construction, easily formed by stamping a blank and folding it into a three-sided shape that is snapped into the seat in the socket housing.
The contact further is formed unitarily with a bight extending between the sides offset from the axis. The conductive core is captured between the bight and the one side edge of the front finger. In addition the contact has another back finger extending from the other side offset laterally from the front finger and having an outer edge juxtaposed with the one side. The back fingers laterally flanking the front finger. A conductive core of another wire is pinched between the outer edge of the other back finger and the one side and bears laterally against the other of the edges of the front finger. Thus when two conductors are fitted to the holder, one of them is captured on all four sides by the contact and the other on three sides, once again ensuring excellent electrical contact.
The back in accordance with the invention tabs are laterally adjacent and parallel to each other. Furthermore the socket housing is formed with a hole parallel to the axis and of a diameter sufficient to pass only the conductive core of the wire. The contact is further formed with a second front finger extending from the other side and having a face directly confronting the face of the first-mentioned front finger and holding the lamp pin therewith. The edges of the front finger extend parallel to each other in planes spacedly flanking the axis.